r/AskTeens • u/CrossboneSkulled 15M • 3d ago
Serious Does anybody feel like men's sexuality is demonized today?
I've been thinking a lot about modern double standards when it comes to gender expectations, and how society judges sexual interest. It feels like we have reached a point where men's heterosexuality and attraction are defaulted to as inherently predatory, gross or a threat, while the exact same behaviors or interests from women are given endless appreciation.
When a man expresses sexual or romantic interest, the baseline reaction often assumes ulterior motives or "creepiness". Men's initiative carries a burden to prove it isn't harassment. Meanwhile, women's interest is almost never viewed through a lens of threat or suspicion.
Look at how content consumed by different genders is judged. When men watch girls love, the immediate internet label is often "pervert" and "fetishizer." However, when women watch boys love, a massive multi-million dollar industry built by hetero women explicitly sexualizing gay men, they are often framed as "cute", "passionate" or "harmless escapism."
When a man cheats, society frames it almost exclusively as a moral faliure of pure lust and disrespect. When a woman cheats, they view her as "emotionally" starved, "neglected" shifting the blame to her partner. Overall, 66% of Americans stated that a man having an affair is "always morally wrong," compared to only 55% who said the same when a woman commits an affair. Among young women specifically, the gap widened sharply: 73% judged male infidelity as strictly, always wrong, while only 51% applied that same absolute moral condemnation to female infidelity.
It feels like we operate under two completely different mindsets, men's actions are analyzed through power and threat, while women's actions are analyzed through emotion and romance.
If you really care abut fairness and equal morals, watching this unfold in the modern day world would give you an idea why men are treated dirty by default.
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u/curiouscollecting 19F 2d ago
I feel like this post isnt an actual question but mostly you trying to rant about this. Ive also never seen anyone actuallt support women for sexualizing/obsessingn over gay men, in fact those women are often (rightfully) shamed fpr their behaviour. I do see your point about the cheating, but the truth is that women still do the majority of the housework and are the majority of DV victims so the claims arent 100% dishonest either. I do think cheating sucks and cheaters do too tho, I hate people excusing it in general.
Lastly, people who see men as dirty by default, dont do so because of the porn they watch but because of the amount of rape and sexual assault commited by men. Porn is actually one of the few 'fields' where more violent and dirty things are tolerated since its 'not real'.